Pakistan Reading Project (PRP) Pakistan

The activity aimed to address the reading deficit among Pakistani 1st and 2nd grade students in 69 districts of Pakistan between 2013 and 2020. Over 1.7 million students and more than 27,000 teachers were engaged in the project. PRP's theory of change posits that improving students' reading skills in Pakistan requires enhancing the classroom learning environment, policies, and systems, as well as community-based support. The project's approach is based on IRC's Healing Classrooms model, which helps teachers develop techniques to support the acquisition of reading skills within a safe environment for learners of different levels and linguistic backgrounds. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) played a supporting role in the project, with reading materials implicitly incorporating SEL skills by highlighting subjects such as respect for children with disabilities, harmony, and relationships. The project gave special consideration to girls in its conceptualization and contextualization phases. PRP developed gender-sensitive reading materials to promote a culture of tolerance and inclusion, and discussions on the importance of girls' education and women's empowerment. As a result, the representation of girls in transformative and leadership roles in textbooks increased from 24% to 47% over the project's span. Close collaboration with the Government of Pakistan was a key factor in the project's success. This collaboration enabled the integration of activity materials into the official government curriculum and facilitated the scalability of the project's impacts. Other best practices included using family and community as an entry point to promote SEL skills, addressing gender differences in learning how to read, and adapting to changing contexts such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The project's teacher training interventions had positive impacts on school and classroom climate. Formal school observations, document review, and key informant interviews indicate improved student-teacher interactions, positive effects of certain teaching practices on student well-being, and increased teacher attempts to relate learning content to students' lives. However, the Batch 2 Impact Evaluation study found a reduction in teachers' promotion of student participation and well-being after withdrawing professional development supports, highlighting the importance of providing teachers with cost-effective ways to maintain high-quality teaching practices. The Gender Study analysis conducted in 2017 revealed a lack of awareness among PRP teachers on gender issues and how to identify them to develop more inclusive and gender-sensitive learning environments. In response, PRP undertook actions to address these findings, including working closely with provincial textbook boards to promote gender equality, distributing promotional materials with gender-sensitive messages, and organizing gender sensitization workshops and training sessions.